Great Rhymes - Great Authors

inspiring lines from great poets 

DESIDERATA - by Max Ehrmann

• Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence.
• As far as possible without surrender be on good terms with all persons.
• Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even the dull and ignorant; they too have their story.
• Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit.
• If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
• Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
• Keep interested in your career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
• Exercise caution in your business affairs; for the world is full of trickery.
• But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals;  and everywhere life is full of heroism.
• Be yourself.
• Especially, do not feign affection.
• Neither be critical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is as perennial as the grass.
• Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
• Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with imaginings.
• Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself.
• You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here.
• And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
• Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be,
• and whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.
• With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. 
• Be careful. Strive to be happy.

The Sin Of Omission - by Margaret Sangster

It isn't the thing you do, dear;

It's the thing you leave undone,
Which gives you a bit of heartache
At the setting of the sun.
The tender word forgotten,
The letter you did not write,
The flower you might have sent, dear,
Are your haunting ghosts to-night.

The stone you might have lifted
Out of brother's way,
The bit of heart some counsel
You were hurried too much to say;
The loving touch of the hand, dear,
The gentle and winsome tone,
That you had no time nor thought for,
With troubles enough of your own.

The little acts of kindness,
So easily out of mind;
Those chances to be angels
Which every one may find
They come in night and silence
Each chill, reproachful wraith
When hope is faint and flagging
And a blight has dropped on faith.

For life is all too short, dear,
And sorrow is all too great; 
To suffer our great compassion
That tarries until too late;
And it's not the thing you do, dear,
It's the thing you leave undone,
Which gives you the bit of heartache
At the setting of the sun.

Trees - by:  Joyce Kilmer

I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the sweet earth's flowing breast;

A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.

Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.